Water experts worried about Asian carp may have new hope. They’re turning their eyes to China, where a carp-hungry populace may be the key for stemming the tide of the invasive fish.

Asian carp are taking over U.S. waterways, including the Mississippi River and tributaries like the Illinois and Missouri Rivers, where they out-compete native fish.

In China, carp is cheap and a common meal-time fixture. Now, a carp fishing industry is springing up along carp-infested U.S. waters and processors are exporting the U.S. problem fish to Chinese diners.

Missouri Department of Conservation / Southeast Misouri State University

The Missouri Department of Conservation have an appetizing plan to get rid of an invasive species of carp in the Mississippi River. Over three-thousand people showed up for the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Day at the River event on Saturday.

The event’s goal, according to co-leader of the event Angela Pierce, was to show what the Mississippi River has to offer. “So many people live in Cape Girardeau and they don’t know about the river, that are scared of the river, and they have never been on the river. So, we just want to kind of engage that awareness,” Pierce said.

Wickliffe’s Two Rivers Fishery has shipped its first of many loads of Asian carp on Tuesday, and it’s going to China.

Plant manager Jeff Smith said the plant has a few orders in the United States and overseas, but he’s preparing for the processing plant’s largest order yet. Customers in China have placed an order for a million pounds of the Asian carp. Smith said that order has a large impact on the new fishery.